Kildare 0-18 Laois 1-8:KILDARE MAINTAINED their excellent record at O'Moore Park defeating Laois by a comfortable margin yesterday.
Only twice in 30 meetings have Laois beaten their neighbours at the venue and, on the evidence of the second-half performance, Laois may have to wait a long time before claiming victory again.
On a cold but perfect day for football Laois opened well and took the lead inside the opening minute with a point from Ross Munnelly. The lead only lasted three minutes until the other number 13, Eoghan O’Flaherty, kicked over the equaliser and James Kavanagh gave his side the lead two minutes later. Munnelly levelled again, but Callaghan regained the lead and Munnelly levelled for a third time.
Kildare were winning a lot of possession but missed chance after chance. Midway through the half Laois produced their best move when a free from Donie Brennan dropped in the square and Brendan Quigley right-footed to the roof of the net. Chris Bergin and Eamon Callaghan traded points and after a few bad wides John Doyle opened his account from a 30-metre free.
Kildare finished the half strongly with John Doyle scoring his second point, leaving the home team ahead at the break 1-4 to 0-6. Seán Dempsey, in his first year in charge, would have gone in happy enough but aware that had Kildare converted half of their wides tally of 10 then the scoreboard would have looked very different.
When Laois resumed with wind assistance, and team captain Brian McCormack pointed after one minute, it looked like the visitors were in trouble. However, two minutes later defender Hugh McGrillen soloed up field and slotted over a great point for the Lilies.
The next 10 minutes saw a rejuvenated Kildare and by the time Laois scored again the visitors added four. Brendan Quigley rounded off a great run with his second score to keep the game alive but a bad wide followed before Laois defender Darren Strong received the first yellow card of the afternoon.
Kildare were now playing with great confidence and as Laois were living off scraps, frustration crept into their play and captain Brian McCormack became the second home player to see yellow, being replaced by Jason Horan.
LAOIS: M Nolan; D Murphy, P Begley, R Stapleton; P OLeary, G Reddin, D Strong; P Clancy (0-1), N Garvan (0-1); B McCormack (0-1), D Brennan, B Quigley (1-1); R Munnelly (0-3), C Bergin (0-1), S Conlon; Subs: M Timmons for P Begley, C Ryan for R Stapleton, N Donogher for D Strong (yellow), J Horan for B McCormack (yellow), P McNulty for S Conlon
KILDARE: S McCormack; M O’Flaherty, D Brennan, H McGrillen (0-1); B Flanagan, M Foley, M Conway; D Flynn, D Earley (0-2); E Callaghan (0-4), R Sweeney (0-1), J Kavanagh (0-1); E OFlaherty (0-1), W Heffernan, J Doyle (0-6). Subs: K Donnelly (0-1) for OFlaherty, A Smith (0-1) for Heffernan.
Referee: P McEnaney (Monaghan).
